implant

Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink has approached one of the biggest US neurosurgery centers as a potential clinical trials partner as it prepares to test its devices on humans once regulators allow for it, according to six people familiar with the matter. Neuralink has been developing brain implants since 2016 it hopes will eventually be a cure for intractable conditions such as paralysis and blindness. It suffered a blow in early 2022, when the US Food and Drug Administration rejected its application to…

In a study carried out in rats, researchers from the University of Cambridge used a biohybrid device to improve the connection between the brain and paralyzed limbs. The device combines flexible electronics and human stem cells – the body’s ‘reprogrammable’ master cells – to better integrate with the nerve and drive limb function. Credit: University of CambridgeResearchers have developed a new type of neural implant that could restore limb function to amputees and others who have lost the use of their arms or legs.In a…

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a new implantable neural implant that combines stem cells with electronics and has the potential to help amputees or those who’ve lost the use of their limbs.Developments in implantable neurotechnology and cell therapy offer potentially effective treatments for those with injuries to the peripheral nervous system, that is, the nerves that lie outside the brain and spinal cord. Both try to restore function to paralyzed or amputated limbs by either bypassing the site…

While there are already a variety of implants that dispense medication within the body, most of them either can't be externally controlled, or they eventually have to be surgically removed. A new one, however, uses light to avoid both problems.The majority of existing drug-dispensing implants take one of two forms.One type harmlessly biodegrades over time – so it doesn't have to be removed – but it only delivers its medication at a preset rate. This means that if the patient needs their implant to release more of a…

Neuralink’s efforts to bring a brain-computer interface still have a way to go. According to a new report from Reuters, Elon Musk’s startup was apparently denied authorization by the FDA in 2022 to conduct human trials using the same devices that, well, killed 1,500 animals. Those tests, according to internal reports, lead to needless suffering and death of test subjects. Current and former Neuralink employees told Reuters: "The agency’s major safety concerns involved the device’s lithium battery; the potential for the…

Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain implant company, is facing a new roadblock on its extremely ambitious avowed quest to cure blindness and paralysis. The Food and Drug Administration has shot down Neuralink’s application to proceed to human trials with its device, according to a Thursday report from Reuters, attributed to seven current and former FDA employees.For years, Musk has repeatedly claimed that human trials for his brain computer interface are right around the corner. In 2019, Musk said his company was angling for FDA…

Despite the repeated and audacious claims by its sometimes CEO, Elon Musk, the prospects of brain-computer interface (BCI) startup Neuralink bringing a product to market remain distant, according to a new report from Reuters. The BCI company was apparently denied authorization by the FDA in 2022 to conduct human trials using the same devices that killed all those pigs — namely on account of; pig killing. "The agency’s major safety concerns involved the device’s lithium battery; the potential for the implant’s tiny wires…

“This is very exciting,” says Jason Carmel, a motor system neuroscientist at Columbia University who wasn’t involved in the study. “It opens up a potential treatment avenue that we’ve never had before for people with chronic stroke.” Stroke is the most common cause of disability in adults. Worldwide, one in four people over the age of 25 will suffer one in their lifetime, and three-quarters of them will have lasting motor deficits in their arm and hand. A stroke happens when blood supply in the brain is blocked or when a…

US-based brain interface startup, Synchron, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, is working on technology designed to transform daily life for people with paralysis.Synchron is part of an emerging crop of companies testing technology in the brain-computer interface industry, reports CNBC.The Synchron Switch is implanted through the blood vessels and allows patients to operate technology using only their minds.So far, the experimental technology has been tested on three patients in the…

The news: Eight years ago, a patient lost her power of speech because of ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, which causes progressive paralysis. Now, after volunteering to receive a brain implant, the woman has been able to rapidly communicate phrases at a rate approaching normal speech. Why it matters: Even in an era of keyboards, thumb-typing, emojis, and internet abbreviations, speech remains the fastest form of human-to-human communication. The scientists from Stanford University say their volunteer smashed previous…